California Fires??? Why is it California ALWAYS have wild fires---that go on for months- weeks--?

Question

Is it a cursed STate or what? No other state in the Union has wild fires all year round? What's up with that?

Answer 1

Because Southern California is a desert with high wind, has very flammable vegetation, and a lot of people live there close together. The link I've added talks about some other unfortunate geographical features that cause fires to spread.

Answer 2

Southern California has a very dry climate. And has had record low rain fall (drought conditions). And Malibu has isolated "Mansion" type houses in the mountain ranges where property is often difficult to get to with patches of dessert brush between the residences.
Edit:
Another aspect of the fires is that once the rain does finally fall those burned areas have mud slides since the vegetation which held the ground in place has been burned off.
I live in the Northern most area of Los Angele's County-In the San Fernando Valley.
One fire a while back (not this one) was accidentally started by a preteen boy visiting from Pennsylvania who was playing with matches. He did not realize how easily fires can get out of control here. Some fires can start by just a spark from machinery.

Answer 3

Hate to inform you but Idaho and Montana have had some that lasted several months also. Most in California are extinguished in as short a time as possible. It takes longer in some cases because of the ruggedness of the terrain. If you have ever been to the wilderness areas you will find mesquite that is so undergrown that getting through is tough and add that to steep walled canyons makes it almost impossible to traverse. That is why the aircraft is so important in aiding with the water drops. With the amount of undeveloped land there will always be potential for wildfires that are hard to contain.

Answer 4

No other state in the Union boasts such humid drought conditions, tinder-dry fuel and fierce Santa Ana winds.
It's like chasing a blow-torch with a hair dryer, except the dryer is blowing like, 50, 60, up to +90 miles-per-hour!

AND when devastating fire hits some little po-dunk state, the town of Buttsville loses an outbuilding or two, its actually an improvement. But when places like Malibu burn, it's a massive story-rightly so. Tragedy, not a curse, is whats up with that.

Answer 5

Southern California has a lot of desert climate (hot and dry) and Santa Anna winds that whip up fires and keep them burning. The winds can bring gusts up to 100 miles per hour sometimes, almost like a furnace. It makes firefighting extremely difficult.

Answer 6

I heard on the local news that this one may have started under suspicious circumstances.

If you have human beings doing stupid things with fire/matches in canyons covered with brush and 50 MPH winds, then you can get big fires like this.

It's very sad. I'm tired of them too and I live in L.A.! But people love the mountainous area of Malibu, the weather there is lovely year-round, the views are fabulous, the air is clean because it comes off the ocean, so this is the risk they take living there. Most of them are wealthy so I guess they can afford all this rebuilding, but they can't replace the emotional stuff in their homes, just like the rest of us.

Answer 7

The answers regarding the dry conditions and vegetation are corrrect. But, there's been a mine fire under Centralia Pennsylvania that's been burning for nearly fifty years. And I don't consider the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to be cursed.

Answer 8

everyday Republican that doesn't comprehend actuality if it slapped you interior the face... like Reid suggested, the wildfires have been led to via worldwide Warming circuitously. If it wasn't for the better warmth and droughts, the severity of the fires could have been much less apt to ensue.

Answer 9

Must be due to the dryness and lack of rain. Has someone started these fires deliberately? How awful to have your home burned down.